How will you facilitate an authentic collaborative learning experience to promote deeper student engagement with content skills and concepts?
Students will be allowed to form their own groups, each group consisting of three to four members depending on class size. The group will select one of their members to create a wiki for use of all group discussions, brainstorming, and project work. The wiki developer will send the wiki link to the instructor, and with that link the instructor will monitor activity going on in the wiki on a regular basis. My involvement with each group will include monitoring discussions via the wiki, offering suggestions and input to keep the group moving in a progressive direction, and initiating contact with any individuals of the group who are not contributing or supportive of the group. Students will be provided with standards and expectations for group work, as well as clear guidelines and directions for conducting research and completing assignments.
As members of collaborative groups, how will you support students’ efforts to identify solutions to the problem you are using as the framework for your PBL instructional unit?
First and foremost, as the instructional leader I will make sure students have a rubric for the assignments that clearly states what the assignment is and what criteria will be used to grade the assignment. Secondly, as instructional leader, I will provide students with the assignment description at the outset of class in the course syllabus, and include clear instructions in the weekly summary of class assignments. As students work in groups to identify solutions to the problem, I will provide links to resources and materials that will steer them in the right direction and offer insight into the problem and possible solutions to it.
What criteria will you use to assign learners to collaborative groups, including a rationale? What will be the size of the collaborative groups you will include in your unit?
Since my students are adults, they will be allowed to organize themselves into groups of no more than three or four students. Students who do not belong to a group by the specified deadline will be assigned to a group by the instructor. Groups will not be assigned until the second week of class, so students will have had time to assess other students in the class and may have already been working with individuals they would like to continue working with on the PBL assignment.
Which digital tools and websites are you considering for collaboration in your unit?
Some of the websites and digital tools being considered for this unit include www.jobs.com, www.careerbuilder.com, www.linkedin.com, www.wikispaces.com, www.simplyhired.com, www.jobsearch.about.com, www.theresumebuilder.com, www.youtube.com, Skype, Elluminate Live that uses Blackboard technology, Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007, Google docs, laptops, smartphones, iPads and tablets. The websites will provide information on researching jobs, the job market, and current openings in a variety of fields. The digital tools will enable students to facilitate synchronous meetings to, and provide a venue by which students can collaborate and share their work and research findings.
How will you assess participation of the students in their collaborative groups?
Students will submit transcripts of Skype or other online real-time collaborative meetings. Students will also invite instructor to join their wiki where all asynchronous collaborative discussions must take place, and I will be able to ascertain participation from individual group members from those modalities. Students will complete an assessment of each group member at the end of the unit, and this assessment will be incorporated into my assessment of participation by group members.
Students will be allowed to form their own groups, each group consisting of three to four members depending on class size. The group will select one of their members to create a wiki for use of all group discussions, brainstorming, and project work. The wiki developer will send the wiki link to the instructor, and with that link the instructor will monitor activity going on in the wiki on a regular basis. My involvement with each group will include monitoring discussions via the wiki, offering suggestions and input to keep the group moving in a progressive direction, and initiating contact with any individuals of the group who are not contributing or supportive of the group. Students will be provided with standards and expectations for group work, as well as clear guidelines and directions for conducting research and completing assignments.
As members of collaborative groups, how will you support students’ efforts to identify solutions to the problem you are using as the framework for your PBL instructional unit?
First and foremost, as the instructional leader I will make sure students have a rubric for the assignments that clearly states what the assignment is and what criteria will be used to grade the assignment. Secondly, as instructional leader, I will provide students with the assignment description at the outset of class in the course syllabus, and include clear instructions in the weekly summary of class assignments. As students work in groups to identify solutions to the problem, I will provide links to resources and materials that will steer them in the right direction and offer insight into the problem and possible solutions to it.
What criteria will you use to assign learners to collaborative groups, including a rationale? What will be the size of the collaborative groups you will include in your unit?
Since my students are adults, they will be allowed to organize themselves into groups of no more than three or four students. Students who do not belong to a group by the specified deadline will be assigned to a group by the instructor. Groups will not be assigned until the second week of class, so students will have had time to assess other students in the class and may have already been working with individuals they would like to continue working with on the PBL assignment.
Which digital tools and websites are you considering for collaboration in your unit?
Some of the websites and digital tools being considered for this unit include www.jobs.com, www.careerbuilder.com, www.linkedin.com, www.wikispaces.com, www.simplyhired.com, www.jobsearch.about.com, www.theresumebuilder.com, www.youtube.com, Skype, Elluminate Live that uses Blackboard technology, Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007, Google docs, laptops, smartphones, iPads and tablets. The websites will provide information on researching jobs, the job market, and current openings in a variety of fields. The digital tools will enable students to facilitate synchronous meetings to, and provide a venue by which students can collaborate and share their work and research findings.
How will you assess participation of the students in their collaborative groups?
Students will submit transcripts of Skype or other online real-time collaborative meetings. Students will also invite instructor to join their wiki where all asynchronous collaborative discussions must take place, and I will be able to ascertain participation from individual group members from those modalities. Students will complete an assessment of each group member at the end of the unit, and this assessment will be incorporated into my assessment of participation by group members.